Abstract

In the construction industry, supply chains consist of clients, project managers,
builders, consultants and suppliers, resulting in a diverse group of trades that extend
down to a single labourer. The construction supply chain is often seen as a highly
volatile and inefficient mechanism that falls well short of expectations due to its
project focus rather than its supply chain management prowess. With relationships in
the construction industry being viewed as short term and project based, the
development of enduring relationships becomes difficult. It is well documented that
the construction supply chain suffers from significant deficiencies in production.
Hence it is wasteful and lacks cohesion with relationships being fragmented and at
arm’s length. In order to improve cohesion and productivity, the relationships among
the supply chain actors needs to be improved. However, in order to do so, there is a
need to understand what drives the relationship and what key factors determine why
actors will enter into a work or project relationship and why the arm’s length
approach is a constant in the industry. This thesis extends the research into the influence of resource dependency on
collaboration in the construction supply chain, specifically explores the relationship
between supply chain actors and at various stages of the procurement process all the
way to the project realisation stage. Particularly, the research aims to investigate and
identify “what influence does resource dependency have on collaboration in the
construction supply chain?”